If everyone was atheist

[Napoléon]

I never addressed the role of religion in politics at all. I just merely said that you can have non religious ideologues to fight over and Socialist Revolution is one such example that has had violence on it.

I guess I misunderstood this then:

Politics always has ways of creating wars more than religion

Seems a strange distinction to make to me. IMO they go hand in hand most of the time.

I'll rephrase my point though, atheism, as opposed to religion, doesn't have a role in politics. Atheism is simply a descriptor about what someone believes. Nothing more. Secularism might have more to it, but that's a different thing altogether. Religion however? That shit right there, that has direct influence on so much in the political world. There's countries out there with laws of entirely religious origin you know. How many countries have laws based in atheistic doctrine? None, there's no such thing. Maybe I'm going on a tangent, if so, apologies.

[ComradeMeow]

I never addressed the role of religion in politics at all. I just merely said that you can have non religious ideologues to fight over and Socialist Revolution is one such example that has had violence on it.

I guess I misunderstood this then:

Politics always has ways of creating wars more than religion

Seems a strange distinction to make to me. IMO they go hand in hand most of the time.

I'll rephrase my point though, atheism, as opposed to religion, doesn't have a role in politics. Atheism is simply a descriptor about what someone believes. Nothing more. Secularism might have more to it, but that's a different thing altogether. Religion however? That shit right there, that has direct influence on so much in the political world. There's countries out there with laws of entirely religious origin you know. How many countries have laws based in atheistic doctrine? None, there's no such thing. Maybe I'm going on a tangent, if so, apologies.

Well yes, they are often correlated but I am only addressing the actions in politics in relation to violence. The Israeli conflict for example is strongly religious in nature but is an exception but on the other hand look at WWII which was the conflict of a the ideology of fascism along with militaristic imperialism or expansion. Religion may play a role in politics very heavily at times but not all actions are associated with religion in the political sphere.

Conservative corporate backing for example is not religious and it is a conflict that is relating to suffering through economic disruption yet ethical matters like LGBT rights acknowledgement is heavily religious and suppressed by the same religiously fundamentalist crime syndicate known as the Republican Party.

[Excited Penguin]

You can't exactly know how bad religion is until you actually get rid of it. So all of our points are basically moot. But I will say this, anyone who refuses to believe that religion isn't the biggest factor of stupidity and therefore violence and poverty that played into politics since the dawn of civilization is pretty much deluded by some kind of liberal dogma or smth. Of course religion isn't everything - it literally is an expression of human culture, it is much more an apendage to it than anything else, really.

But now we have grown a new skin - technology, and mark my words, nobody will be having any reason to be violent to nobody in a fully rational, secular world. People who follow reason will always seek out ways to maximize their own society's wealth and wellbeing both for their own sakes and everybody else's. Like Harris says, no society has ever suffered from being too rational - that's a preposterous notion.

[IATIA]

Absolutely yes. Just for starters, think of all the monies spent to glorify god. These funds could have used more efficiently for the betterment of mankind. Not all wars were started over religion, but removing even some war is good and who can really know what the end result may be? May be more wars then we know were 'divinely inspired'. Without religion (and this includes all 'magical' shit) no witch hunts, Inquisitions, scientists dulled under threat of heresy, etc..

I believe that religion has had and is continuing to have a detrimental impact on society. It would be good to have it completely erased. And even if there were a god, it could not care less. It would already be working on another billion, trillion, zillion, quadrillion googloplex universes.

[rado84]

Do you think the world would be a better place if everyone was atheist?

Yes. There would be no organizations like ISIS, 9/11 would never happen, the number of wars would be much smaller, the world wouldn't know the meaning of the word "terrorist", history wouldn't know what "Dark Ages" is and nowadays man kind would be colonizing other solar systems.

[Mental Outlaw]

John Lennon's Imagine becomes the national anthem for every nation in the world.  So yeah!

[Justtristo]

It would be awesome in my opinion if everybody was an Atheist, along with having skills such as Critical Thinking and a good understanding of the Scientific Method. It would be same as person being cured of a chronic debilitating illness.

[Vincent]

I believe that the world... would be about the same, if everyone was atheist. So I chose 'no'.

The way I see it, a happy, peaceful world is an impossibility when it comes to humans. Does religion cause persecution and war? Yep. Does it lead to discrimination? Often. But would the eradication of religion end those problems? I don't think so. People are people, and they're going to find a way to be assholes regardless of whether or not you subtract belief in a god from the equation. Stalin was an atheist. That did not stop him from doing bad shit in the name of gaining political power. Trust me, humanity will find a way to fuck things up. Getting rid of religion is not the magical cure we need.

Although, it would be nice to have more atheists in the world...

[Thumpalumpacus]

But I will say this, anyone who refuses to believe that religion isn't the biggest factor of stupidity and therefore violence and poverty that played into politics since the dawn of civilization is pretty much deluded by some kind of liberal dogma or smth.

Greed kills religion in terms of violence, suffering, and evil promulgated. Greed.

What's scary is that greed lies deeper in the human psyche than religion. You can eliminate religion altogether, and you will still have wars over resources, land, financial systems, market strategies, productive zones, slave labor, food supply, and so on -- and all of those devolve into greed when you really boil it down.

I disagree with your notion that religion is the biggest factor in violence and poverty, and I look forward you essaying your support for it.

[pocaracas]

Speaking of hypothetical, in a world where no one has ever lied, where everyone intrinsically believes everyone else, one man has found that he can say something that doesn't correspond to the reality he perceives, it is the invention of lying: